Hillary Clinton must once again win over some in Jewish community

By Dan Merica, CNN

Updated 1257 GMT (2057 HKT) March 18, 2014

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28. The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state was the first woman to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Before marrying Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here she attends Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her commencement speech at Wellesley's graduation ceremony in 1969 attracted national attention. After graduating, she attended Yale Law School.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Rodham was a lawyer on the House Judiciary Committee, whose work led to impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in 1974.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

In 1975, Rodham married Bill Clinton, whom she met at Yale Law School. He became the governor of Arkansas in 1978. In 1980, the couple had a daughter, Chelsea.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Arkansas' first lady, now using the name Hillary Rodham Clinton, wears her inaugural ball gown in 1985.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The Clintons celebrate Bill's inauguration in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1991. He was governor from 1983 to 1992, when he was elected President.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Bill Clinton comforts his wife on the set of "60 Minutes" after a stage light broke loose from the ceiling and knocked her down in January 1992.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

In June 1992, Clinton uses a sewing machine designed to eliminate back and wrist strain. She had just given a speech at a convention of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.

Clinton accompanies her husband as he takes the oath of office in January 1993.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The Clintons share a laugh on Capitol Hill in 1993.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton unveils the renovated Blue Room of the White House in 1995.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton waves to the media in January 1996 as she arrives for an appearance before a grand jury in Washington. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. The Clintons' business investment was investigated, but ultimately they were cleared of any wrongdoing.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The Clintons hug as Bill is sworn in for a second term as President.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The first lady holds up a Grammy Award, which she won for her audiobook "It Takes a Village" in 1997.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The Clintons dance on a beach in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 1998. Later that month, Bill Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton looks on as her husband discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998. Clinton declared, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." In August of that year, Clinton testified before a grand jury and admitted to having "inappropriate intimate contact" with Lewinsky, but he said it did not constitute sexual relations because they had not had intercourse. He was impeached in December on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The first family walks with their dog, Buddy, as they leave the White House for a vacation in August 1998.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

President Clinton makes a statement at the White House in December 1998, thanking members of Congress who voted against his impeachment. The Senate trial ended with an acquittal in February 1999.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton announces in February 2000 that she will seek the U.S. Senate seat in New York. She was elected later that year.

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Clinton makes her first appearance on the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Sen. Clinton comforts Maren Sarkarat, a woman who lost her husband in the September 11 terrorist attacks, during a ground-zero memorial in October 2001.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton holds up her book "Living History" before a signing in Auburn Hills, Michigan, in 2003.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton and another presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, applaud at the start of a Democratic debate in 2007.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, in June 2008. She had recently ended her presidential campaign and endorsed Obama.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Obama is flanked by Clinton and Vice President-elect Joe Biden at a news conference in Chicago in December 2008. He had designated Clinton to be his secretary of state.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton, as secretary of state, greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a meeting just outside Moscow in March 2010.

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The Clintons pose on the day of Chelsea's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky in July 2010.

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In this photo provided by the White House, Obama, Clinton, Biden and other members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton checks her Blackberry inside a military plane after leaving Malta in October 2011. In 2015, The New York Times reported that Clinton exclusively used a personal email account during her time as secretary of state. The account, fed through its own server, raises security and preservation concerns. Clinton later said she used a private domain out of "convenience," but admits in retrospect "it would have been better" to use multiple emails.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton arrives for a group photo before a forum with the Gulf Cooperation Council in March 2012. The forum was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Obama and Clinton bow during the transfer-of-remains ceremony marking the return of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who were killed in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton ducks after a woman threw a shoe at her while she was delivering remarks at a recycling trade conference in Las Vegas in 2014.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton, now running for President again, performs with Jimmy Fallon during a "Tonight Show" skit in September 2015.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton testifies about the Benghazi attack during a House committee meeting in October 2015. "I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together," she said during the 11-hour hearing. "I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done." Months earlier, Clinton had acknowledged a "systemic breakdown" as cited by an Accountability Review Board, and she said that her department was taking additional steps to increase security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders shares a lighthearted moment with Clinton during a Democratic presidential debate in October 2015. It came after Sanders gave his take on the Clinton email scandal. "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about the damn emails," Sanders said. "Enough of the emails. Let's talk about the real issues facing the United States of America."

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton is reflected in a teleprompter during a campaign rally in Alexandria, Virginia, in October 2015.

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Clinton walks on her stage with her family after winning the New York primary in April.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

After Clinton became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, this photo was posted to her official Twitter account. "To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want -- even president," Clinton said. "Tonight is for you."

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Obama hugs Clinton after he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The president said Clinton was ready to be commander in chief. "For four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment and her discipline," he said, referring to her stint as his secretary of state.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton arrives at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York on September 11. Clinton, who was diagnosed with pneumonia two days before, left early after feeling ill. A video appeared to show her stumble as Secret Service agents helped her into a van.

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Clinton addresses a campaign rally in Cleveland on November 6, two days before Election Day. She went on to lose Ohio -- and the election -- to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

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After conceding the presidency to Trump in a phone call earlier, Clinton addresses supporters and campaign workers in New York on Wednesday, November 9. Her defeat marked a stunning end to a campaign that appeared poised to make her the first woman elected US president.

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Story highlights

Some in U.S. Jewish community associate Hillary Clinton with Obama's Israel policy

Some wonder if Clinton's position on Israel has changed as she ponders White House run

Clinton's husband Bill is jokingly referred to as the "first Jewish president"

Flanked by Jewish politicians in front of the United Nations on a July day, then-Sen. Hillary Clinton made a forceful appeal for the United States to back Israel as the Jewish nation's forces squared off against Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon War.

"We will stand with Israel because Israel is standing for American values as well as Israeli ones," said Clinton.

Clinton was an outspoken defender of Israel and representative for American Jews for eight years in the Senate. But it wasn't always that way. She had to work hard for Jewish support in 2000 as the New York Jewish community was skeptical of her support for Israel and publicly wondered whether the former first lady was too sympathetic with the Palestinians.

But by the time she ran for president in 2008, a number of Jewish Democrats said her record with the community was unprecedented. Touting her foreign policy credentials and defense of Israel, Jewish leaders flocked to Clinton as she ran against Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries.

But after losing to Obama, Clinton signed on to be the new President's secretary of state and the face of his foreign policy. Over the next four years, some Jewish leaders said Clinton's once-consistent, outspoken leadership on Israel was hamstrung by her role as Obama's top diplomat.

But many also winced quietly when she floated trial balloons about a nuclear deal with Iran, like in a 2010 interview with the BBC in which Clinton said Iran could enrich uranium for civilian purposes if it came into compliance with international norms.

As Clinton mulls another run for the presidency in 2016, there are questions in the Jewish community about whether her time at State has shifted her standing on issues important to American Jews.

To some, the foreign policy experience she developed will just further endear her to a bloc of voters one leader described as "extraordinarily cosmopolitan on foreign affairs."

But to others, including a number of Democrats, Clinton's ties to the Obama administration -- a presidency that some Jewish leaders say is not strong enough on Israel and too focused on working out a nuclear deal with Iran -- has not helped her standing with American Jews.

"On the amorphous level, that she was part of the administration, there may be some residual weakening," said one Jewish leader in Washington who asked for anonymity to speak more candidly.

Other Jewish leaders see it as a mixed bag that Clinton will have to define before she decides about her political future.

"At a minimum, her four years in the secretary's office did not hurt her in the community, even as the President got beat up in some corners of the community," said another Jewish leader with ties to Clinton. "I don't know it especially helped her among Jews, but it didn't hurt her."

Tapping into the Clinton mystique

Jewish leaders questioning Clinton's standing is particularly interesting when the Clinton family's longstanding ties with the community is considered.

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Those ties are so great that Bill Clinton -- a Southern Baptist born in Arkansas -- is jokingly considered and honorary Jew to some leaders.

"Her husband was like the first Jewish president," joked one Jewish Democrat. Others said the Clintons' understanding of the community was better than any other American politicians.

Clinton is also helped by history. Despite the fact that conservatives have long hypothesized that Americans Jews would begin to vote more Republican because of party's positions on taxes and Israel, the past two decades have shown the opposite.

According to a 2012 report by The Solomon Project, a nonpartisan public policy organization, Jewish support for Democrats has grown since the 1990s. When Republican Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980 and 1984, he garnered between 31% and 37% of the Jewish votes. But starting in 1992, when Bill Clinton was first elected to the White House, American Jews began to gravitate to the Democratic Party.

In fact, at no point between 1990 to 2008 has a Democratic candidate for the presidency won less than 70% of the Jewish vote. In 2008, Obama won nearly three-quarters of the Jewish vote.

But history is also changing.

In 2012, Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976 to win less than 70% of the Jewish vote when 69% of the community supported the president.

"The majority of American Jews are liberal Democrats," said Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center. "But in the Orthodox segment of the community, President Obama is less popular. I think it remains to be seen whether, for the Orthodox community, that translates into some baggage for Hillary Clinton."

Since leaving the State Department, Clinton has appeared at a number of fundraiser for Jewish groups where she has been well-received.

In October 2013, Clinton was the keynote speaker at the $5,000-a-plate Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago Vanguard fundraising luncheon.

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In January 2014, Clinton was one of a few speakers at the memorial service for Samuel Bronfman, a longtime Clinton supporter and stalwart in the Jewish community. A Jewish leader in New York who attended the event told CNN that speaking at the memorial was a "huge coup" for Clinton because "everyone who is anyone in the Jewish community will be there."

Clinton will have a chance to tout her bona fides with Jewish-Americans on Wednesday when she is honored by Jack Rosen, the head of American Jewish Congress, at an event in New York City.

According to Rosen, a Jewish leader with extensive ties to the Clintons, the event is an opportunity for Clinton to talk about issues that are important to the Jewish American community. Rosen specifically pointed out that "the community" would like to know where Clinton stands on the deal the U.S. and five other Western nations struck with Iran over its nuclear program.

"We now have this deal with Iran brewing," Rosen said. "The community would like to know where she would come out on these Iranian discussion taking place. How does she see the future outcome out if?"

While the agreement struck in November was preliminary, it dials back Iran's ability to work toward a nuclear weapon and at the same time loosens the chokehold of international sanctions on Iran's economy.

Some American Jews have been critical of the deal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labeled the deal a "historic mistake" that "has made the world a much more dangerous place."

Rosen was quick to correctly point out that Clinton wasn't in office when the deal with Iran was struck. This distance, he said, gave the former secretary of state a "sort of the restart button here on Iranian policy because Iranian policy has changed."

But the former first lady has already publicly helped Obama by rebuffing congressional attempts to impose more sanctions on Iran as negotiations play out.

In a letter to Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin in February, Clinton wrote that while she was "a long-time advocate for crippling sanctions against Iran," now was the time to "do everything we can to test whether they can advance a permanent solution."

For some American Jewish leaders, that letter was a troubling sign.

"Having thrown her support to the President's approach on the Iran issue, she is now really tied herself to his policy," Diament said. "If somehow that policy does not succeed, that is something she is going to have a lot of explaining to do."

Rosen came close to echoing Diament's sentiment.

"She wasn't part of (the Iran deal)," Rosen said, but "does she support it?" The answer to that question "will bring up some questions of her views in comparison to the administration's."